Prom
by Mrs Gordo
Summary: A peak at a possible future.


_**A/N - Comics? What comics? Future fic. Post-Shanshu Fluff. All of the mistakes are mine no beta.**_

I couldn't help but twirl around in my dress in front of my full length mirror. My dress was taffeta and it was a beautiful shade of iridescent navy blue. It created interesting patterns of shadows and light as I moved. I felt like a princess on her way to the ball. Except my ball was in a high school gym but I hear we got a killer band.

My thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

"Come in." I called out.

My mom entered the room and she smiled brightly at me "You look beautiful Kat! Oh my goodness. Turn around for me." I gave her a little twirl. "I have to take photos of you to send them to Aunt Dawnie and Willow!" She started taking tons of photos and posing me. She was getting annoying.

"Ugh OK Mom that's enough I have to finish getting ready." I pleaded.

"Oh ok fine. Can't blame me for getting excited about your Senior Prom. It's a big night!" She came around to my side as I looked in the mirror and stood next to me. I looked so much like my mother. Long blonde hair, petite frame but her eyes were a beautiful emerald green and mine were a chocolate brown. She gave my bare shoulders a tight squeeze. "So how do you want your hair." She walked me over and sat me down in front of my vanity.

I found myself wondering about my mom and her prom. How did she spend this right of passage? "How did you wear your hair for prom?"

"Oh gosh, let me think…"

"Do you have a photograph?" I asked her. She didn't like to talk too much about the days of her youth. I was the daughter of a Vampire Slayer, formally the only one of her kind, and I knew that when my mom was young she had anything but the typical adolescence. She tried to make sure we had a normal life but my Godmother was a powerful witch and my uncle of sorts was a vampire so the normal life was moderately subjective. The older I grew the more curious I was to know about her former life. The one she had before me and my younger brother and the PTA meetings and the bake sales.

"No...I…." She gave a sad laugh. "We didn't take any photos that night." And then she paused. She looked at me for a second. "Actually, I do have a photo I can show you. Hang on I'll be right back."

After a few minutes and after trying on some different earrings, my mom returned with a high school yearbook. She sat down on the foot of my bed and I joined her.

"Now this isn't my yearbook, mine was burned and buried in the Sunnydale crater." She gave me a side glance, "Long story. But it just so happens that one of our old friends had one and your dad ended up with it." She gave a small sigh and flipped through the year book.

"Can I see your senior photo?"

"No, I'm not in here. I didn't show that day. I was training with Faith and didn't make it. Oh but I can show you Aunt Willow!" She found her quickly in the book and showed me her photo.

"Oh wow, she looked so young and her hair was longer. Why is she making a funny face?"

My mom let out a small giggle. "Yea I don't know about the face but she does look so young. I guess we were all pretty young." She smiled to herself as she looked at my godmother's photo. She got a faraway stare for a moment, as if she was remembering something, a memory or a different time in her life.

She seemed to realize she was staring off and gathered herself as she continued to flip through the book. "Willow was dating this boy named Oz."

"Aunt Willow was dating a _boy_?"

"Yup. And he was a werewolf. He was very cool. I wonder where his life took him." She pondered.

"Oh and here is Xander's photo."

I laughed. "He kinda looks the same but skinnier and with less wrinkles."

My mom traced the photo with her fingers. "You think so? I think he looks so different."

"So are you stalling or what? I want to see Buffy the Prom Queen."

"Have some patience Katherine. And I was not a Prom Queen, I didn't even win homecoming queen. Oh but I did get awarded a nifty little umbrella at Prom. They called me the Class Protector." She said with some pride. "It was really nice. I never knew anyone noticed all of the craziness that was going on in that school but I guess they did." She continued to thumb through the yearbook stopping every now and again when different pages caught her eye as she spoke.

I saw her turn the page and her eyes light up a bit as she looked to the bottom left section. It was a picture of my mother in a beautiful taffeta lilac dress. Her hair was pulled half up so that her long golden locks cascaded around her slender shoulders. She looked so young and incredibly beautiful. Her eyes were closed. She was dancing. Her head rested tenderly on the broad chest and under the chin of her date. He was tall, dark and…"Oh my God! Is that dad?"

My mom laughed. "Yup. That's daddy."

"But he - wow he was so _pale_!"

"Well he wasn't really able to go tanning in those days sweetie."

"You went to prom with a vampire? That is so much cooler than me going to prom with Chad. Although you know, Chad has the whole, being alive thing going for him."

I turned to look at her and I realized her eyes were filled with tears. I grabbed her hand. "Why are you sad, mom? Was dad a total jerk?"

She gave a small laugh. "No, he was the perfect gentlemen that night. I got to have my perfect high school moment. I never thought I would have that. I got to dance at my senior prom, in my beautiful dress with the love of my life. It was everything I could have asked for."

I looked back at the photo in front of me, I examined my mom's face and my dad's face in the picture. And then it clicked. This dance, this moment, it was a goodbye. It wasn't a promise of many years of happiness to come. It was the moment before a farewell. My heart broke for the young couple who couldn't possibly know if they would ever get their happily ever after.

I knew that my parents had been a together when they were young and then were apart for many years due to their work and their circumstances. Mom was a human and dad, not so much in those days. And then there was something about a curse but I wasn't clear on the details and no one seemed to want to give me the scoop. But I had never stopped to consider how difficult this separation had been for them. The mom and dad I knew were nearly inseparable. They ran a business together, teaching self defense and martial arts, and they went to work together every day. Sure they bickered at each other often. My dad would always lament that in his nearly 300 years he had never met a worse driver than my mother and he didn't understand how despite her Slayer reflexes she still managed to ding the her car just about month. My mother fussed at my dad for being overly meticulous about things, for being what she called a "fuddy duddy" and his horrendous taste in music - and given that he is always blasting Barry Manilow, I have to agree with her on that one.

But unlike my other friend's parents, my mom and dad still seemed so completely smitten for each other. Always stealing kisses or cuddling on the couch for our sunday night movies. Many times their public displays of affection were much to the disgust of me and my younger brother. I mean get a room right? My step-brother Connor always tells us that they were a hundred times worse before I was born. Hard to imagine.

But how many years did they go without being able to hug or kiss or be near each other? How many nights were they kept apart? I had never considered the heartache that my mom had faced when she was my age.

"This was before dad left for his work in LA, isn't it?"

My mom nodded her head and shook off her sniffles. I grabbed the yearbook from her to thumb through the pages. "Go sit down so I can finish your hair." She said.

I got up and sat in front of the vanity as she brushed my hair slowly creating a half ponytail hair style. My mom had never really opened up to me like this about her past and I wanted to know more. More about her and my dad.

"How did you know you were in love with dad?"

She continued her musings with my hair. Making sure it was meticulously tied back. She smiled at the question. "Well when I first met him, he was kind of annoying. I mean, sure he was a honey -"

"Ugh ...mom… spare me…"

"Well do you want to know the story or not Kat?" She looked at me through the mirror giving me her mom voice.

"Ok fine go on but please don't talk about making out with dad. I don't want to heave before Prom."

She laughed. "He was a good looking man but he kept showing up all cryptic and never bothered to stay for very long. I beat him up you know, when I first met him. I knocked him straight on his cute butt." She smirked proudly at the memory. "But one time he came to warn me about some danger and he gave me his leather jacket when he thought I was cold. I let myself look into his eyes and I remember, everything around him went dim. It's like he was the only one in the whole room that mattered. And I suppose, ever since then I haven't been able to turn that off. I can't remember ever not loving your father. It's as much a part of me as being the slayer or your mom."

I hesitated but I wanted to know because I wanted to understand my mother's sadness. "And how was it when he left for L.A.?"

My mom finished off my hair with a beautiful silver brooch she had brought from her room. She adjusted the hair and was tending to the flyaways. She gave me a sad smile. "It was like… my very breath had been sucked out of me. I couldn't breathe. And that was true for a while. Longer than I wanted to admit it."

"And that's when you and Uncle Spike dated?"

She looked at me wide eyed with shock. "Katherine! Who told you that?"

"Uncle Spike is always teasing dad about it. We aren't dumb mom, we know you used to date him."

"That was lifetimes ago. Now come on stand up let me look at you." I stood up and turned around. My mom looked up into my eyes. I had a few inches on her now.

"You have your father's eyes." She said with a bright smile. My mother's eyes were always light and always made me feel so incredibly loved. She leaned in and gave me a hug.

I heard the doorbell and I jumped away from her. Oh my gosh Chad was here. I moved around the room looking for my shawl and my purse. Where had I left my phone? I could not leave Chad down there with my father for any longer than was absolutely necessary. God knows what kind of talk he was giving him!

"Buffy?" I heard my dad calling up.

My mom opened the door and yelled back. "Be right down!"

I touched up my lipgloss and stuck it in my purse. I turned towards the door and walked quickly down the stairs. My mother right behind me. I caught the ongoing conversation that my father was having with my date at the door.

"... And how long have you had your driver's license?"

"3 years, sir."

"You haven't had anything to drink tonight have you, _Chad_?"

My dad said Chad's name as if it was some alias for his real identify. As if he couldn't bring himself to believe that anyone could really be named "Chad."

"No...no sir. Nothing to drink."

"Dad that's enough with the 20 questions." He turned to me and gave me his signature big daddy smile.

He ran his fingers briefly through my hair. "This is how your mom wore her hair for her senior prom." He looked over my shoulder at my mom with a soft smile. He placed his hand on my cheek. "You look beautiful Kathy."

"Thanks daddy." I looked up and smiled. I stared for a moment at my father's soulful brown eyes. They did look the same as mine. But his eyes were so much older than mine. For a moment I thought I saw centuries of hurt and pain as well as happiness and love. It was then that I wondered what my father had been like before I knew him. I knew him as the silly man who loved to sing loudly while he showered. Who would wake up early every single morning without fail to watch the sunrise and who would make us french toast on Saturday mornings. As the man who called my mom buttercup and who always called me Kathy even though I preferred to be called Kat.

In his eyes, I could see that the life he lead before me had been so different than the one he has now. He had known heartbreak and sadness. Perhaps he had not given himself the opportunity to know happiness. Maybe that is why he had walked away from mom. Because he had felt unworthy of happiness until the day he had been granted his humanity.

I slowly pulled away from his hug and made my way to the door. My dad put his arm around my mother and brought her close to him. She snuggled into him.

"Have fun and be safe." My mom called out.

I looked back for a second before walking out the door with my date. My parents stood looking at me with so much love in their eyes. Who knows if I would ever know their whole story. Uncle Spike once told me that Romeo and Juliet had nothing on my parents. But then again Romeo and Juliet had died where my parents had lived to be heros. Then they had made a nice life for me and my little brother. Mostly, their past seemed to be a secret shared between two warriors. But I was thankful that the Powers had made me part of their future.

I smirked and proceeded to walk out the door, "Don't wait up!" And I began to close the door but before I could I heard my dad's warning -

"One o'clock Kathy or I send out Uncle Spike."

-Angel-

I turned to find Buffy looking emotional and I noticed she carried a book with her.

"What's this?" I grabbed the book.

She wiped her tears with her sweater. "Oh - it's Cordy's yearbook. Kat wanted to see a photo of me at prom."

I leafed to the page in question. I knew it by heart. In the years Buffy and I were apart I had looked at this photograph so many times. I looked up and gave her a reassuring smile. I know that the memory was as bittersweet for her as it was for me.

I grabbed her hand and walked her over to the sofa where we sat and I tucked her in close to me. "You know Cordy gave me this yearbook back when she first moved into her new apartment in LA - the one with the ghost you remember I told you about that?" Buffy nodded. "She said she was getting rid of all of things Sunnydale and putting that part of her life behind her. She said she was going to throw this out but she thought I'd want it because of this photo."

Buffy gave a small smile. "That was very thoughtful of her."

I was lost in the memory of my long departed friend. "It was."

Buffy snuggled closer to me and said, "Kat - she had all of these questions, about prom, about us, about those years. I told her about how I fell in love with you. About how sad I was when you left."

I hugged her tightly. All of the apologies had long been said before. There was nothing left to say. Buffy and I had found our way back to each other, had forgiven each other, and had learned to allow ourselves to love each other again. We had long decided to put the past behind us and focus on creating a life for ourselves. And it was a beautiful life.

She looked up at me. "Do - do you think that Chad guy is the love of her life? He doesn't really look like "love of your life" material. I think he's been hit one too many times on the football field"

I laughed. "No. I would guess that not many people go to prom with the love of their life. Most just end up going with whatever kid has the coolest car. And then they probably don't see them again until an awkward high school reunion."

Buffy gave a small laugh. "You are probably right. I really didn't have a typical high school experience did I?"

"Well you fought hellhounds at prom so that should give you an idea of how atypical it was."

"I'm glad that Kat gets to have her normal prom, with her normal boyfriend, with a normal car, and - extra points for no hellhounds." Buffy said and then she turned up to look at me with her big eyes. "But I wouldn't trade what I had for the world. To be there, on that night, with you, it was magic, the real life kind."

I smiled at her. I softly nudged her away and leaned forward. Kathy had taught me many times to work these smartphones, I knew I could figure this out. I found the song I was looking for, hit the bluetooth speaker and played the song.

 _Childhood living is easy to do_

 _The things you wanted I bought them for you_

I got up and extended my hand towards Buffy. "Will you dance with me?"

 _Wild horses couldn't drag me away_

 _Wild, wild horses couldn't drag me away_

She smiled and took my hand. She settled into my embrace tucked snuggly underneath my chin. We swayed to the music. "I never told you that night, how beautiful you looked. Your hair long and golden, your lilac dress hugging your every curve perfectly. I should have told you, Buffy. I should have told you that and so many other things."

"Shhh." She smoothed the back of my neck an old habit of ours, one I always found soothing. "I know, Angel. But it's ok. We found our way back to each other and you have had two decades to tell me all the things you didn't tell me before."

"I should have told you that I loved you that night. But I'm glad I get to say that now. Every day of my life I get to tell you I love you. And I'm the luckiest man to be able to do that."

"I'm a pretty lucky gal myself." She smiled back at me. "I mean have you seen your ass. It is still as tight as the day I met you." She winked at me.

I smirked down at her. I kissed the tip of her turned up nose, then gave her a small peck on the lips. Nearly two decades of living in the sunshine and she was still the brightest light of my life. Still power and strength packed into a tiny package that was my Buffy. I pulled away and quickly swept her up into my arms. "Come on, Buttercup, the kids are out, our house is empty, let's turn in early." I wiggled my eyebrows at her suggestively.

Buffy smirked at me and then nuzzled into my neck as I carried her upstairs to our bedroom, "Sounds fantastic."

 _Wild, wild horses we'll ride them someday_


End file.
